In industries which handle large volumes of coins, such as in banks or casinos, it is desirable to have a safe, accurate, and efficient way to distribute or access high volumes of coins with limited human intervention. Many types of automated rolled coin dispensing machines have been developed for this purpose, particularly for use where such large volumes of change are needed or distributed. Where such machines are used, it is usually desirable that the dispensers be fast, have large capacity, and be both reliable and flexible in operation.
As illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,860,922; 4,940,162; and 5,005,339, automated rolled coin dispensers heretofore have frequently relied on gravity or hopper type dispensing systems. These systems store coins in a bin or reservoir and dispense coins by utilizing the weight of the coin rolls themselves to move them through an opening or outlet at the bottom of the coin storage area. Such devices prior to this invention have generally had one or more drawbacks associated with their use. In particular, many of these machines are incapable of reliably handling both paper and plastic wrapped rolls of coins. Because of the nature of plastic wrapped coins, if they are subjected to unusual stresses, they often break or tear open. Hopper or gravity type dispensers are thus often subject to this problem because such machines often store coins stacked rather unevenly, and the weight of the bulk of the coins imparts substantial stress upon the bottom-most rolls of coins. These stresses frequently cause broken or torn rolls and render such machines less than desirable for use with plastic wrapped coinage.
In addition to the above, hopper or gravity type dispensers are often subject to jamming. This is because such dispensers usually store coins without partitions or dividers. As the coins move by gravity towards the outlet of the dispenser, there is nothing to guide their path and they often "bridge" or jam.
When coin rolls "bridge", rolls adjacent to each other settle into the form of an arch as coins below the "bridge" are removed or dispensed. The strength of such a "bridge" is actually reinforced by the weight of the coins above and usually occurs just above the outlet of the bin or reservoir, blocking any further dispensing of coins. In such a machine, frequent service is often necessary.
Other automated rolled coin dispensers known in the art rely on one or a combination of ramps, "pickers", or extensive or complicated conveyor systems. These coin dispensers are often slow, complicated, of insufficient capacity, or subject to one of several types of jamming. Examples of these known dispensers are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,825,115; 4,469,245; 4,717,044; 4,840,290; 4,966,304; 5,722,564. As can be seen, such dispensers rely on ramps, conveyors, or "picker" systems which slowly and often circuitously transport coin rolls from the coin storage area to the dispenser outlet area. In one such prior art system, for example, a roll of coins is transported from storage via a conveyor, picked from the conveyor by a "picker" (a cylinder with a recess for acceptance of a coin roll), and ultimately placed onto a ramp for dispensing. Such a system is inefficient in that it must employ extra steps in the dispensing process and does not dispense coins directly from the coin storage area. Due to their complexity, these types of dispensers are also subject to jamming as coin rolls travel down ramps or along conveyors towards their eventual destination at an outlet or dispensing area. Additionally, many of these dispensers do not store a sufficient capacity of coins where the demand is for a large volume of coin flow. Such dispensers, if employed for high volume usage, often require frequent reloading.
In view of the above, it is apparent that there exists a need in the art for a rolled coin dispenser which is not subject to the above drawbacks. It is a purpose of this invention to fulfill this need in the art, as well as other needs which will become more apparent to the skilled artisan once given the following disclosure.